Vekasi to give lecture on Korean Peninsula geopolitics Sept. 13
Prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula will be the focus of a Sept. 13 lecture at the University of Maine by Kristin Vekasi, a UMaine assistant professor of political science.
The free public lecture, from 4:30–5:30 p.m. in 120 Little Hall, will focus on the key background from the perspectives of major stakeholder countries — North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia. Topics will include nuclear diplomacy, the Trump-Kim summit and future prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The lecture is based on Vekasi’s research and travels as a fellow through Bridging the Divide, a program run by the Mansfield Foundation and the Korea Foundation. While abroad, Vekasi met with U.S. and Korean policy makers, journalists, academics, and defense and intelligence officials.
Vekasi teaches in the Department of Political Science and the School of Policy and International Affairs at UMaine, and has conducted extensive research and fieldwork across Northeast Asia, especially Japan and China. She has been a visiting fellow with the Japan Foundation at Tokyo University, a Fulbright Fellow at Tohoku University and a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellow at the Harbin Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on Japan-China relations, and how multinational firms manage political risk in a globalized and politicized world. Recent publications discuss how private firms use cultural exchange programs to improve tense international relations, and responses to China’s use of rare Earth metals in their economic statecraft. For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact Vekasi, 581.1879.